Wednesday, September 28, 2005
'rory'
hahaha.notice the frequency to which i've been blogging these past few days... thats cos i'm in hall!
bahhaha.
i think theres a tendency to blog more often in hall, since my laptop seems to be on 24-7, sometimes even when i'm asleep... hmm.
anyway, i love the gilmore girls !!
sarah at 8:56 am
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Voluntary simplicity.
Simplicity is such a nice word.
simple
simplistic
simplism.
I've been subscribing to news 93.8fm's a slice of life. By that, i mean that i get a typed out version of what was broadcasted over radio everyday. In IT terms, i think it means RSS feed? haha. anyway, today's article was on simplicity in this ever-changing and hectic world.
It's so hard to live a simple life. maybe that's possible when i move to a nice country-side cottage in new zealand with the trees, skies and sea as my daily companion, Oh, not forgetting a few dogs, rabbits, teraphines, a parrot, and a cow.
wells, just some food for thought.
Voluntary Simplicity
In such a hectic world, the virtues of simplicity and contentment have been displaced by greed and excess. Our lives are filled with "stuff" - things to do, things to buy, shows to watch, emails to read. But if you take a moment to examine your possessions and activities, how many of them really improve the quality of your life?
The term 'voluntary simplicity' is used to describe a process whereby people opt out of the harried life of modern day living, and choose to live a life of frugality. Frugality in the sense of enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have. Because when you think about it, how much do you really need? How much of your "stuff" do you actually use?
As we search for meaning in our lives, we start to become aware of the emptiness and shallowness of a life based on materialism and consumerism. We become aware of the tremendous amount of life force that we expend just to keep up with the 'rat race.' We start the search for a life of deeper meaning and ask ourselves 'what gives us joy?'
What we don't realise is that we are spiritual beings, in a physical body, and when we don't connect the internal (spiritual) and the external (physical), our lives increasingly lose a sense of balance or harmony. What are the expectations and assumptions that drive us to live our lives like zombies? How much 'life force' energy are we prepared to exchange for the material goods we consume?
If you've been bought into the prevailing system, stop and think about why your life seems increasingly futile no matter how much you do and how much you buy. Here are some ways you can simplify your life for more inner peace and clarity.
Have a Buy Nothing Day.
an obsession with monochrome.
sarah at 9:41 pm
Friday, September 23, 2005
k-drama fever.
kwon sang woo fever.i wonder if anyone who googles kwon sang woo will actually get directed to my blog. haha. google is amazing, seriously. i googled jaded and my blog appeared under the results. and now, with all the hype over those seemingly promising teens posting racist comments on their blogs, i better be more careful with what i say. wheres the freedom man!? hms. then again, singapore was never a place where the freedom of speech is allowed and practiced. take the speakers' corner for example. i wonder who actually goes there to speak or listen to anyone speak now. that 'corner' is merely the government' s way of creating an outlet for angsty and unhappy singaporeans to speak their minds and hopefully, rid themselves of all the distress and miserableness.
ah wells. nuff said.
this entry is for someone whom i've unknowingly offended/upset in one of my previous entries about seemingly good people becoming nasty and showing their 'dark' sides. honestly, that entry was never directed at anyone in particular, it was more of a , general rebuking on my part, which i believe was totally unecessary and uncalled for. and really, if i had known that you were the one in charge of that particular 'activity', i would never have posted the entry. call it biasedness, but i really take this friendship of ours to heart.. and i don't really wish for such a trivial issue to get in the way, which i have a feeling, it already is.. as sensed from the animosity between us. maybe animosity is too strong, just weird vibes i get whenever we're together in the same place? sigh. yeps.
so yes, my mid semester break was absolutely well-rested. i slept for about 11 hours everyday, woke up late for lunch, watched my favourite VCDs over again like kelly chen and aaron kwok's and i love you so in full cantonese this time round. YAY! i love white umbrellas now. i do agree with chen's character, luna, that white umbrellas exude some sort of a salient elegance, and an outstandingness unlike other brollies. but Black brollies are an exception too. Black umbrellas have that mystique-ness, classic-ness, and the trying-to-be-inconspicuous-yet-being-prominent-at-the-same-time feel. i love black.
onto the topic about loves and old loves, i love korean songs, those sappish ones with nice nice melodies and malodramatic story-like mtvs such as mr flower, and that korean mtv where the male lead gives his pair of eyes to his love as he felt that he was the cause for her blindness. i actually cried the very first time someone sent me the link to the mtv. boo hoo.
anyway, wassup with the guys giving up their eyes for their girls? sounds horrifically cheesy and cliche but it still causes that stinging sensation and the inevitable train of 'pearls'. and i realised that korean drama plots revolve around car accidents, one of the leads losing his or her memory, tragic tragic tragic endings where the couple never ends up together, and yes, one character donating an organ or eyes to their loves. very unrealistic uh. i don't think such things happen in real life, or at least i'm choosing not to believe in such fairy-tale like endings.
i did hope for some sort of dramatic and passionate (or as they call it in chinese, hong hong lie lie) love relationship with that one, that special someone in my life, but now, i'm just taking things as they are. if he comes, he comes. or rather, if God allows, i'll accept it glad-fully. :)
then again, maybe that special someone has already appeared, but i'm choosing to turn a blind eye to him.. because of my so called expectations and perceptions of what is a seemingly ideal and perfect special someone.
to those who have found that special one.. the THAT one in their lives, i'm envious, really. But i don't think i'm upset or desperate. As for now, I'm feel happy and fortunate in the company of God, my family and my friends and, thats enough. ^_^
sarah at 5:11 pm
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
faith.
i found this verse so apt, so consise yet it says it all in just one sentence.
faith is the fundamental of so many religions, particularaly for Christianity, where Jesus is the anchor for this faith to be rooted in our heart and lives. as easy as it sounds, it is much harder to live out a life full of faith, faith in everything, even in the simplest of decisions, than it actually seems. i'm ashamed to say that my life hasn't really been one full of Faith that God above will provide for everything. it's so hard to believe in a higher being's existence without seeing...
what then is the difference between genuine faith and blind faith ?
genuine faith comes from believing that which we ought to know, we already know; yet what we do not know, we trust that it is for a reason, possibly due to it being too profound and complex that is has never been revealed to us... true faith comes only from believeing in something that is solid and most importantly, the truth. Jesus is the source of this truth.
blind faith comes from believing something that is baseless, groundless and easily shaken. As someone once mentioned to me,
"Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason once accepted, despite your changing moods." -- C.S. Lewis
Such faith that is subjective to changing moods and fluctuating emotions is baseless and weak and unable to stand the test of time.
And this is what seperates genuine faith from one that is blind and erroneous.
I don't think i shall be blogging regularly for the next couple of months. workload is piling sky-high with the seemingly endless list of to-dos comprising of essay deadlines, project deadlines and tests. don't get me wrong, i actually enjoy being a student, but sometimes all these mundane things seem to take up so much of my time that i'm begining to wish i could just shove them all aside and enjoy the things i like ...
about the straits' times article a few days' back about singaporeans not reading enough, i'm ashamed to say that ever since the semester started, i havent been touching my books. and i actually resolved to read a book at least once a month.. up till now, its zilch and counting..
booklists :
The ultimate Hitchhiker's guide
American Gods
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Blackberry wine
sarah at 12:44 am